2017 Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees Scholarship program

The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc. (The Foundation) is offering five $2000 scholarships to apiculture graduate students in 2017. This is the Foundation’s eleventh year to award these scholarships.

The Foundation is a charitable research and education foundation affiliated with the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF). The Foundation has benefited from a number of generous gifts, including the estates of Glenn and Gertrude Overturf and Margaret and Victor Thompson, and continues to be sustained by ongoing gifts from ABF members and other supportive individuals.

The Foundation Trustees have chosen to use a portion of these gifts to offer five graduate student scholarships to foster professional development for emerging apicultural scientists. The scholarships are available to all currently enrolled graduate students studying any aspect of honey bees, bee husbandry and/or the apicultural industry. The purpose of the scholarships, in addition to providing modest financial support, is to allow the recipients to attend the 2017 North American Beekeeping Conference & Tradeshow at Galveston Island Convention Center at The San Luis Resort on January 10-14, 2017. Each awardee will be given a $2000 scholarship check; in addition, the Foundation will cover all lodging expenses and up to $750 in travel expenses. Graduate students enrolled in a university, either within the United States or internationally, are eligible to apply. The recipients will have an opportunity to meet other researchers and beekeepers and to present their research at the meeting. The Board of Trustees always looks forward to interacting with recipients and hearing about their research during the conference.

Applications for the scholarships will be accepted until September 16, 2016.
Criteria:

Applicants should submit the following for consideration, as one collated PDF document titled with his or her name (“Applicantsname”.pdf):

1. A one-page cover letter from their university advisor outlining:

The student’s progress toward their graduate degree (Master’s or PhD)

Tentative graduation date

Any other information about the student

Any information about their research that would help “get to know” the student.

2.The student’s curriculum vitae, or resume, not to exceed two pages.

3. A research proposal (not to exceed three pages), written by the graduate student. This proposal should:

Begin with an introduction to the research problem, followed by clear goals and objectives that state the research questions and hypotheses

Outline specific research experiments the student is conducting for their degree

Describe research the student is planning to perform, or the progress the student already has made toward that research

Clearly state how the research benefits bees, beekeepers, and/or the apicultural industry

Discuss the methods that will be used to answer their research questions, and the expected results or results to date

Be written for a general audience. The reviewers of the proposals are beekeepers that really want to understand the importance and implications of the research.

Recipients will be selected in October 2016. Each chosen recipient will receive detailed information about the scholarship, travel arrangements and conference expectations in late October 2016.

Applications must be submitted as one PDF document electronically, including name, address, e-mail address and phone number, to:

The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc., e-mail address reginarobuck@abfnet.org: with the subject line: 2017 Foundation Scholarship Application.

If you have questions or need more information about the scholarship program, contact: Regina Robuck, Executive Director, American Beekeeping Federation and The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc. at 404.760.2887 or reginarobuck@abfnet.org.